Why Oyetola ‘lost’ re-election bid
By Adebayo Adedeji
“If people like you still have ears of my governor, please tell him to stop all projects now and pay all outstanding benefits of civil servants. There are sufficient reasons to believe our people don’t appreciate good infrastructure built over the last 43 months by Governor Oyetola.”
The above was part of a message sent to me by a friend a day following the conduct of the 2022 Osun governorship election where candidate of the opposition party was declared winner. The electoral umpire declared Senator Ademola Adeleke, of the PDP, winner with 403,126 votes as against Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, of APC, with 375,004 votes.
Do I share the sentiment of my friend? I do not and I stated my position to him thus:
“The outcome of last Saturday’s election is a reflection of Oyetola’s rising acceptance in the state. Unlike in 2018 when he polled 255,505 votes, in the last election, he polled 375,027 votes across the state. In comparison, that is a surge of 119,522 votes to his credit. What would have attracted 375,027 voters to the Governor? If performance is what determines a renewal of mandate, then Oyetola should have won in grandstyle because he comes in abundance in this aspect. But other factors, majorly steeped clannish sentiment and pent-up anger towards Rauf Aregbesola, Oyetola’s predecessor in office, played some factors in the election.
In provision of infrastructure, Oyetola has etched his name in gold because in his time, he has made a giant-stride to install projects that impact on the well-being of the citizens. In less than four years, he renovated at least a primary health centre in nearly all the 332 wards in the state. In Osogbo and Olorunda, for example, he renovated at least 26 health centres and equip them with the needed drugs and consumables.
Oyetola also saw to the prompt completion of inner roads in Osogbo. Even when COVID-19 was ravaging the land, Alekuwodo road was speedily completed to the satisfaction of the road users. The road, for many years, was in deplorable condition before this government’s intervention. The 2.9km (2900metres) road network cuts across Akindeko-Awosuru link road, Adejumo Street with Oremeji spur Akinlade, Isopako Street, Adewale Street, Ajigbotoluwa with loop to WAEC road.
The road and primary health centre projects embarked upon by this administration have, no doubt, earned it the support of many people. So also the Osun Food Support Scheme started 15 months ago. Through the food scheme, no fewer than 360,000 citizens have been fed: 30,000 citizens per month. Oyetola invested heavily in people and infrastructure. Unfortunately, the biggest receivers of the Oyetola government’s investment, the civil servants and pensioners, failed to extend their hands of comradeship to him at the poll. Their hate messaging against the Governor did not do his re-election bid any good.
The election results in Osogbo and Olorunda, where majority of the state workers reside, were shocking. Shocking because the party had expected an outright win considering the political bond that existed between the people of the areas and APC, on one hand, and government’s devotion to facelifting the areas, on the other hand.
Osogbo, over the years, has been the stronghold of the progressive party, but this year, it felt into the jaws of the reactionary forces owing to what political observers described as distasteful politics played by the civil servants and pensioners. While the governor in 2018 won in the two local government areas with a margin of 15,284 votes, in the 2022 election, a negative of 10,090 votes was returned for him. In Alekuwodo and Baruwa areas where about 10 roads have received the attention of the state government, voters in their thousands chose to throw their weight behind candidate of PDP in almost the 82 polling units in the areas. Meanwhile in Ilesha East and Irewole where there are lesser concentration of civil servants, the results were favourable to the Governor; this is attesting to the thinking that Oyetola’s loss in some areas was not because of his non-perfomance. In Ilesha East, Oyetola obtained 13,452 votes as against 9,790 votes he obtained in the 2018 election. Ilesha East is the home of Aregbesola. Aregbesola and his associates not only stayed away from Oyetola’s camapign, they also openly colluded with the opposition PDP to edge the Governor. Nevertheless, the Governor had a better showing in 2022 because he won with 2,483 votes as against the winning margin of 1,546 he recorded in 2018 when Aregbesola led the campaign there.
Similarly, in Irewole, Oyetola recorded higher votes than in 2018. In the previous election, he polled 10,049 votes and in this year’s election, he polled 18,198 votes. While he lost to PDP with a margin of 3,799 votes in 2018, he won in 2022 with a margin of 3,982.
The resentment towards the Governor by a section of Osun workers, and their loved one, is attributed to the Governor’s inability to offset the 30 months pension and salary passed on to him by Aregbesola. Recall the Aregbesola government was notorious for activating a bizzare modulated salary regime in the state where workers were placed on half-salary. And this half-salary regime lasted for 30 months. So by the time the government eclipsed November 26, 2018, it was indebted to the civil servants to the tune of =N=70 billion. This was the huge sum left for Oyetola to shoulder. Note: This is different from the humongous debt of =N=270 billion ( internal and external loans) the last administration bequeathed to the current government that has to be serviced. Since inauguration, about =N=90 billion, meant for this administration to execute its activities, have been chopped off to service debt it did not owe.
Nothwithstanding the precarious situation the Oyetola Administration has found itself, it has shown unflinching commitment to the welfare of the workers ( both active and retired). Even when their population is not up to 5% of the entire population of the state, the workers have always received the lion-share of the government’s spending. Over =N=180 billion has been paid to settle salary and pension of the workers. This allocation is the second best in the country after Lagos. According to Pension Nigeria, an NGO advancing pension matters in the country, while Lagos State has paid =N=40.5 to settle pension and gratuity since Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu assumed office, Governor Oyetola since inauguration has paid over =N=45 billion to settle pension and gratuity. This is an extent to which the government of Oyetola has gone to maintain a cordial relationship with the workforce. But this did not matter to the workers. They insisted he should offset the 30 months salary or no deal. They also wanted him to prosecute Aregbesola for misappropriating resources of the state. Oyetola sensed going after his predecessor might retard the wheel of governance in the state. And his argument that seeking a loan to settle inherited pension and salary, as suggested by the workers, would further hurt the financials of the state fell on deaf ears as workers were not ready for such an explainer. The strongest voices in the workforce, who are Ademola Adeleke’s kinsmen from Ede, marketed to their colleagues, and friends and loved ones, the sentiment of the PDP candidate as to his readiness to clear all the 30 months arrears. They destroyed the image of the Governor as nursing a plan to re-introduce in his second term the half-salary regime earlier experimented by Aregbesola. Oyetola denied vehemently such a wicked plan. He was never believed.
But what is strange in this arrangement is how the workers would believe the promise of a non-state actor and despise that of a governor who has never denied them of their emoluments since 2018. The workers chose the Adelekes’ proposal even when some of the teachers in their university in Ede are yet to be fully paid their entitlements. Hmmmm.
On a final note: should Osun workers be punished for preferring two birds in the bush to a bird in hand? No. Governor Oyetola should offer a further hand of solidarity and amity to the workers and continue to work towards addressing some of their fears. If resources are readily available before he completes his term, offsetting part of the 30 months arrears would not be a bad idea. Such a gesture might be what is needed to melt the animosity customised for him by the workers. I take this stance believing that such payments would not affect the massive road construction going on across the length and breadth of the state.”
